What's the difference between cloud and clout?

Cloud


Definition:

  • (n.) A collection of visible vapor, or watery particles, suspended in the upper atmosphere.
  • (n.) A mass or volume of smoke, or flying dust, resembling vapor.
  • (n.) A dark vein or spot on a lighter material, as in marble; hence, a blemish or defect; as, a cloud upon one's reputation; a cloud on a title.
  • (n.) That which has a dark, lowering, or threatening aspect; that which temporarily overshadows, obscures, or depresses; as, a cloud of sorrow; a cloud of war; a cloud upon the intellect.
  • (n.) A great crowd or multitude; a vast collection.
  • (n.) A large, loosely-knitted scarf, worn by women about the head.
  • (v. t.) To overspread or hide with a cloud or clouds; as, the sky is clouded.
  • (v. t.) To darken or obscure, as if by hiding or enveloping with a cloud; hence, to render gloomy or sullen.
  • (v. t.) To blacken; to sully; to stain; to tarnish; to damage; -- esp. used of reputation or character.
  • (v. t.) To mark with, or darken in, veins or sports; to variegate with colors; as, to cloud yarn.
  • (v. i.) To grow cloudy; to become obscure with clouds; -- often used with up.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) A golden toad (Bufo periglenes) in Monteverde Cloud forest reserve in Puntarenas province of Costa Rica.
  • (2) The dermatan and keratan sulfate-storing diseases have corneal clouding.
  • (3) Aircraft pilots Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Getting paid to have your head in the clouds.’ Photograph: CTC Wings Includes: Flight engineers and flying instructors Average pay before tax: £90,146 Pay range: £66,178 (25th percentile) to £97,598 (60th percentile).
  • (4) Read any technology trends article and you’d be forgiven for thinking all roads lead to the cloud.
  • (5) Chris Williamson, of data provider Markit, said: "A batch of dismal data and a gloomier assessment of the economic outlook has cast a further dark cloud over the UK's economic health, piling pressure on the government to review its fiscal policy and growth strategy.
  • (6) In the process, PR firms have grown even more influential in shaping the debate around climate policy, said James Hoggan, who ran his own public relations firm in Vancouver and founded DeSmogBlog , a blog that describes itself as “clearing the PR pollution that clouds climate science”.
  • (7) They belong to the people who built Choquequirao, one of the most remote Inca settlements in the Andes, and were stashed here by the archaeologists who, over the past 20 years, have been slowly freeing the ruins from the cloud forest.
  • (8) Its radar will penetrate thick cloud to warn of catastrophic rainfall.
  • (9) The present standard method for evaluating asbestos fiber concentrations in workroom air excludes fibers less than 5 micron long even though it has been shown that small fiber concentrations dominate in a dust cloud.
  • (10) Since then, Amazon has expanded into other retail categories, such as food, clothing and electricals, and developed a formidable cloud computing service, its own television shows and an electronic personal assistant for people’s homes.
  • (11) He said: "Strong feeling must never be allowed to cloud clear judgment about where this country's real long-term economic interests lie.
  • (12) Ukip is also a very grey revolt, which adds another dark cloud over its long-term prospects – although, of course, generational change takes a long time!
  • (13) On the day I arrive a time lapse of cloud is drifting across the ridge, above a geometry of Inca stairways and terraces cut into a steep, jungly spur above the Apurímac river, 100 miles west of Cusco in southern Peru.
  • (14) A 32-year-old insulin-dependent diabetic patient reported recurrent clouding of her short-acting insulin, caused by silicone oil contamination from re-used disposable syringes.
  • (15) The picture was clouded by job losses at the other end of the age range, after employers exploited a final chance to impose mandatory retirements which were outlawed this month .
  • (16) Similarly literary and pensive was Clouds of Sils Maria , in which France's Olivier Assayas combined some modish themes — the internet, celebrity gossip, superhero movies — with some hoarier themes regarding the theatre-cinema divide, ageing and female rivalry.
  • (17) US attorney general Loretta Lynch closed the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email practices with no charges on Wednesday, formally ending a protracted saga that has clouded her campaign with questions of trustworthiness.
  • (18) Sony has announced a new cloud-based gaming service, which will bring classic PlayStation titles to a range of gadgets, from tablet computers to televisions.
  • (19) But retweet if you remember destabilizing a region based on falsified claims that everyone in America needed to be afraid of a mushroom cloud, fave if you don’t understand causation.
  • (20) We should grieve and we should be angry, but we must not let grief or anger cloud our judgment,” he said.

Clout


Definition:

  • (n.) A cloth; a piece of cloth or leather; a patch; a rag.
  • (n.) A swadding cloth.
  • (n.) A piece; a fragment.
  • (n.) The center of the butt at which archers shoot; -- probably once a piece of white cloth or a nail head.
  • (n.) An iron plate on an axletree or other wood to keep it from wearing; a washer.
  • (n.) A blow with the hand.
  • (n.) To cover with cloth, leather, or other material; to bandage; patch, or mend, with a clout.
  • (n.) To join or patch clumsily.
  • (n.) To quard with an iron plate, as an axletree.
  • (n.) To give a blow to; to strike.
  • (n.) To stud with nails, as a timber, or a boot sole.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Bargaining is a question of clout, and which side has more of it.
  • (2) The growing power of public sector employees allowed them to win better pay and conditions, and gave them a degree of political clout.
  • (3) Also, the sections of the public keenest on the BBC – women, younger Britons, people in the south-east of England, the wealthier ABC1 social categories – have considerable political clout.
  • (4) For a start it was a powerful coalition of organisations – which carried serious clout.
  • (5) White, backed by the financial clout of the US treasury, prevailed.
  • (6) Gallenzi, though, believes it still has the clout to stand up to Amazon.
  • (7) And that means they need to use their lobbying abilities, they need to use their commercial clout to force the government to be more responsible in whatever jurisdiction it is, in safeguarding our public interests.
  • (8) Although he is from the Pashtun ethnic group that dominates south Afghanistan , Ghani's tribe has traditionally had more clout in the east.
  • (9) King said Ryan, an influential voice on budgetary matters who was Mitt Romney’s presidential running mate in 2012, was the only person with the clout to run for speaker.
  • (10) China has far greater clout than Spain in Argentina, whose economy is heavily dependent on soya exports to the Asian giant, leading to speculation that Fernández might strike her own deal with Sinopec, effectively handing even greater control over Argentina's economy to Beijing.
  • (11) Political action committees are a means for individuals to join together so they have some clout in the political process, Symons said.
  • (12) As the Americans draw down their forces, their clout is visibly weakening.
  • (13) "Part of what has given Britain clout in the last 15 years has been that our economy has been seen to be successful, but the whole Anglo-Saxon model has taken a great knock," says Niblett.
  • (14) At the time of the handover, the then foreign secretary, Robin Cook, reiterated that Britain would use its clout to defend Hong Kong and its freedoms.
  • (15) US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks refer to Hadi as a putative reformer, albeit one who had enjoyed little clout among Yemeni powerbrokers.
  • (16) Less than a fifth of English voters think that Scottish independence would diminish the rest of Britain's clout in the world.
  • (17) Film-makers with clout could circumvent the system, but when most directors are straight, white men making films about straight, white men, we don’t tend to get a very diverse lineup of films.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.
  • (18) Patrick Connolly of IFA firm AWD Chase de Vere is more sceptical about the power of individual shareholders, but says institutional investors do have a lot of clout.
  • (19) He was credited with helping YouView get its house in order and giving it some much-needed commercial clout.
  • (20) But if and as it grows, it will give China the clout in regional financing that membership of the ADB has not allowed it to wield, in spite being a generous capital provider to it.